Over 100 junior and senior police officers went behind the wheels of patrol cars and on motorbikes and headed into hotspot crime areas yesterday afternoon as part of an “aggressive and vicious assault” on crime; a vexing issue one senior police officer said has left the country at a crossroad.

Leaving behind office work, the officers were deployed to troubled communities like Englerston, Pinewood Gardens, Bain and Grants Town, Centreville, Kemp Road and Yellow Elder, where the majority of this year’s murders have occurred.

“Officers will stay in a certain area for ‘X’ amount of time to ensure that no action happens in that area, that they control the crime limit and that if crime happens, we should be able, in spilt seconds, to capture the individual responsible for committing the crime,” Police Press Liaison Officer Superintendent Stephen Dean said.

“We want to reassure members of the public that we are treating crime as an urgent matter.

Supt. Dean is convinced that as time progresses, the country will see the results.
“We believe that increased police presence, increased police patrol will eliminate that fear [of crime] on a daily basis. Crime will always be with us to a certain degree but we can bring it to a manageable level and this is one of the initiatives that you will be seeing in the next couple days,” he said.

“We have the Urban Renewal. We have the saturation patrols, we have our drug enforcement, our detectives are doing a number of things and the marine division and so we are keeping up with our mandate to ensure we have a safe country.”

In the case of those hell bent on breaking the law, the senior cop reiterated a nonsense warning to criminals.

“Those who are committing crimes, who have not been captured yet, we are warning you – in short order, we will be visiting you,” he warned. “We will be knocking on your doors wherever you might be.

“We also want to commend the public. We want you to step up your intelligence level, step up your calls to the public. You’ve helped us solve a number of crimes. We want you to tell us where those guns are where those criminals are hiding, persons who are thinking about getting involved in crime, we have reached a crossroad in The Bahamas. We need everyone to come on board. You don’t need to stand on the stand line and be a fan. We ask you to get involved.

Supt. Dean went on to make a final plea to parents.

“Talk to your children to ensure you know what you’re children are doing,” he encouraged. “Get your children into positive activities. If they don’t, they will get into a life of crime and this does not have a positive end – it’s either prison or death,” he said.

The senior cop’s warning came only hours after a 19-year-old Clarence Coakley Jr. was shot several times to the head while through Saxon’s Way, Mason’s Addition.

The teen, who was being electronically monitored with an ankle bracelet, died on the scene, just a stone’s throw away from his Dead Cat Alley home.

Police yesterday expressed confidence that his killer would be caught.